Are you like me and sometimes sit frozen…staring at lovely patterned paper and fabulous stamps but do not have anything to jump start your creativity? How about trying out a simplified card sketch? Today I’ll show you four versions from a card sketch that I designed. All of the cards feature products from Jen’s Lost & Found Two Collection from My Mind’s Eye. This collection has so many beautiful designs that make card-making so easy!

So here’s the simple sketch:

This first card stays very true to the design, where the gray area is a patterned paper panel placed onto kraft cardstock. I skipped the sentiment because the Breeze Dream 6×6 paper already included what the card was meant to say to the recipient-You Are So Special. I inked the edges slightly to give the panel some dimension:

The following card features selective trimming of L&F2 Breeze Dream Stamping Paper, the white area within the design on the paper just called for a simple sentiment to be stamped. I carried the damask element into the card base through embossing. Did you notice how I shifted the gray panel to the middle of the card and the sentiment was moved up to the top as well?:

The next card features stamping on a one layer card (using a card base only). The images from the L&F2 Breeze Dream set are wonderful when creating your own patterned paper. Masking off the right part of the card, I stamped various images in coordinating colors on the left side then came back and stamped the filler scroll image in an ink only slightly darker than the card base to add dimension. The final element was to stitch a line to separate the sentiment from the stamping:

And finally, I used the banner stamp included in the set as a focal design element. I trimmed the panel, inked the edges and layered that onto the same card stock as the panel.

When you have amazing products such as the Lost & Found Two Collection and a simple card sketch, the possibilities are endless for making cards. Let the sketch serve as a starting point and really make the elements and designs from the product shine by throwing in your own twists! I hope that you will be able to use the sketch too for those last minute holiday cards that you’ve got to make!